Long Beach city officials have agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle two fatal officer-involved shooting cases from 2014 and 2015, the city attorney’s office said Wednesday.

City Attorney Charles Parkin said the City Council approved the settlements in closed session on Tuesday and finalized the agreements on Wednesday.

“While this brings legal proceedings to a close, the city recognizes that the loss of any human life has lasting consequences for the family, friends, neighbors, those employees involved, and the city as a whole,” officials said in a statement. “The City of Long Beach and its Police Department remain committed to improving police community relations and best practices.”

Hector Morejon

A $1.5 million settlement will be issued to the family of an unarmed 19-year-old man, Hector Morejon, who was shot and killed by an officer responding to a trespassing and vandalizing call at 2:45 p.m. on April 23, 2015. At the time, police said an officer fired his weapon when he saw Morejon turn around and extend his arm as if pointing a firearm. No gun was found at the scene.

The sound of gunfire prompted Hector’s mother, Lucia Morejon, who lived a few doors away, to come outside. She said she saw several police officers at the site and her son being loaded into an ambulance, according to a statement released by the family’s attorney, R. Samuel Paz, shortly after the incident.

Lucia Morejon said her son called for her, saying “Mommy, Mommy, please come, please come!” so she approached the ambulance and identified herself as the mother. She expected to ride with him to the hospital, but she was pushed away by a man in a blue uniform, according to the statement. At the hospital, Lucia Morejon said, she and her family were not allowed to see Hector until after he died.

Nearly 15 months later, Lucia Morejon suffers daily relapses of “deep grief and depression” and could not handle reliving the death of her youngest son through a trial, her attorney said in a statement released Wednesday.

“She is well aware the settlement is not a measure of her son Hector’s life, but with the support of her family she has decided that a prompt resolution was in her best medical and emotional interests,” the statement said.

Jason Conoscenti

A $2 million settlement will go to the extended family of Jason Conoscenti, 36, who was killed on April 26, 2014, after sheriff’s deputies responded to calls of an attempted robbery at a Target store in Compton. Deputies said Conoscenti brandished scissors while struggling with security personnel at the store.

Conoscenti fled the store and led Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on a slow-speed pursuit that ended at Ocean Boulevard and 14th Place in Long Beach.

The incident happened in full view of a number of beachfront apartment high-rises. A video of the encounter, which appears to show police shooting Conoscenti from behind, spread quickly online and sparked outrage in the community.

Civil rights attorney Dale Galipo, who filed an excessive force lawsuit on behalf of Conoscenti’s two aunts, Nona Opstinick and Linda Sterett, said it was an appropriate settlement for the case.

“It’s a little bit less than we were hoping for, but we think it’s a reasonable amount and a fair settlement,” Galipo said Wednesday, adding that both Conoscenti’s parents were deceased and he had no siblings. “I think what drove the settlement was the video of the incident and the fact that there were some witnesses who were willing to testify if the case went to trial.”

Other recent cases

The two cases settled Wednesday bring the 2016 total to three settlements in officer-involved shooting cases, Parkin said. The third case resulted in a $1.9 million settlement in June. It was also filed by Galipo on behalf of the infant son of Tyler Woods.

Woods, 19, was shot and killed by police after he ran from officers at a traffic stop on Nov. 19, 2013. The unarmed teen ended up on the roof of an apartment building where two officers fired 37 shots at Woods, striking him at least 19 times, according to a statement attorneys released after the shooting.

In a second lawsuit over the same incident, a jury awarded $1.05 million to Woods’ parents, who had been incarcerated since Woods was a child.

Three additional cases are now pending, including one filed by Galipo on behalf of the family of John Del Real, a 39-year-old Long Beach resident who was killed by a plainclothes narcotics officer on Sept. 26, 2013, after the officer said Del Real approached him in a threatening manner. Galipo said he is due in court Tuesday for the Del Real case.

The other two pending lawsuits were filed on behalf of the families of Feras Morad, a 20-year-old college student shot and killed by a Long Beach police officer in May 2015 after jumping through a second-floor window, and Carey Smith-Viramontes, an 18-year-old shot and killed after officers said he used a knife to threaten the father of a minor he had runaway, Parkin said via email.

The Morad case is scheduled to go to trial in April 2017 and the Smith-Viramontes case will head to trial in December 2017, he said.

Courtney Tompkins covers Long Beach City Hall for the Press-Telegram. Courtney previously covered local government and education for the Pasadena Star-News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune. She is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach, where she studied journalism and international relations.

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